There's a decent application for analyzing execution plans called SQL Sentry Plan Explorer. It also has an add-on for SSMS that allows opening the execution plans generated in SSMS directly into Sentry Plan Explorer. While a similar result can be achieved by opening Sentry Plan Explorer, then retrieving the execution plan in SQL Editor and then switching the panel to text/xml mode, select all, copy and paste it into Sentry Plan Explorer command window, it tends to become tiresome after a while.

Do you think you could make this simpler by adding a View with "SQL Sentry Plan Explorer" menu item to the context menu, for example?

Last edited by gemisigo on Wed Nov 23, 2016 11:28 am; edited 1 time in total

Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:58 am

Mindflux

Joined: 25 May 2013Posts: 641Country: United States

+1 now that Sentry Plan Explorer is free.

Tue Nov 08, 2016 2:51 pm

SysOpSite Admin

Joined: 26 Nov 2006Posts: 6608

Perhaps this result can be achieved using existing support for macros to automate the plan xml text copying to the clipboard or file, and maybe also by customizing the menus and adding a custom command to launch Sentry Plan Explorer. I'm not sure exactly which macros can be used for that because the text isn't in the editor but in the results pan and it also requires an additional right-click to invoke "Show XML" menu. I'm going to consult with the development team for how that can be automated using macros and let you know what they suggest.

Did you know you can add your own commands to SQL Assistant menus. One of the action types is 'Execute External Command"

Wed Nov 09, 2016 10:38 am

gemisigo

Joined: 11 Mar 2010Posts: 1438

SysOp wrote:

Did you know you can add your own commands to SQL Assistant menus. One of the action types is 'Execute External Command"

No, that's completely new to me (I must admit, I never checked what it could do). What makes me wonder, though, is why SQL Assistant menu is not shown as a context menu in SQL Editor. I can only reach it through the window menu above toolbar.

UPDATE: whoa, I added a new item and all the others are gone. I can still see them in SQL Assistant - Options but when I invoke the SQL Assistant from the menu above the toolbar in SQL Editor, only the last one I added and the separators can be seen, all the others are vanished.

Last edited by gemisigo on Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:34 am; edited 2 times in total

Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:26 am

Mindflux

Joined: 25 May 2013Posts: 641Country: United States

gemisigo wrote:

SysOp wrote:

Did you know you can add your own commands to SQL Assistant menus. One of the action types is 'Execute External Command"

No, that's completely new to me (I must admit, I never checked what it could do). What makes me wonder, though, is why SQL Assistant menu is not shown as a context menu in SQL Editor. I can only reach it through the window menu above toolbar.

I have the SQL Assistant as a right click menu in SQL Editor, though "OPTIONS" is not available there, just by the pulldown above the toolbar.

Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:28 am

gemisigo

Joined: 11 Mar 2010Posts: 1438

My experience is that messing with the menu immediately screws it. As soon as I added a new item (not even edited it, left it by the name of New Item), it got ruined (see screenshot above). Removing the new item does not fix it, I had to reset the menu.

UPDATE: Even moving existing item after resetting it will result in destroyed menu.

Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:38 am

SysOpSite Admin

Joined: 26 Nov 2006Posts: 6608

Quote:

UPDATE: whoa, I added a new item and all the others are gone. I can still see them in SQL Assistant - Options but when I invoke the SQL Assistant from the menu above the toolbar in SQL Editor, only the last one I added and the separators can be seen, all the others are vanished

Did you by any chance move them to a different level?

Do I get it correctly that when you right click in SQL Editor, you don't see SQL Assistant expandable menu item in the context menu? If that's the case please check the Options for the target. The Environment Integration option for the target should be set to Full.

Quote:

I have the SQL Assistant as a right click menu in SQL Editor, though "OPTIONS" is not available there, just by the pulldown above the toolbar.

It's in the top level menu under Options.

Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:40 am

gemisigo

Joined: 11 Mar 2010Posts: 1438

SysOp wrote:

Did you by any chance move them to a different level?

No. I only added one item. It got ruined. Removed the item. That did not restore. Reseted the menu. It was good again. Added new item again without modifying it in any way. Ruined it again. Reset. Good again. Moved Refresh Cache one step upward (above Connect). Ruined again.

SysOp wrote:

Do I get it correctly that when you right click in SQL Editor, you don't see SQL Assistant expandable menu item in the context menu? If that's the case please check the Options for the target. The Environment Integration option for the target should be set to Full.

Yes, there's no SA expandable in the context menu. It was already set to Full. I changed it to None and applied changes, then changed back to Full and applied again. Restarted both SA and SE. Still no context submenu for SQL Assistant.

Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:46 am

SysOpSite Admin

Joined: 26 Nov 2006Posts: 6608

This has reached the limits of my knowledge. I will need to ask for assistance with this issue.

May I ask you to try the same with a different type of development environment to see if it's a target specific issue or it's common?

Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:54 am

gemisigo

Joined: 11 Mar 2010Posts: 1438

Notepad complies to different settings, though it requires restart between the changes.

Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:59 am

SysOpSite Admin

Joined: 26 Nov 2006Posts: 6608

Thank you. I have opened a new ticket #SA0030089

Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:32 pm

SysOpSite Admin

Joined: 26 Nov 2006Posts: 6608

Hello. Could you please send a copy of your current %APPDATA%\SQL Assistant\9.0\SQLAssist.sas file with the broken menu in SQL Editor to our support account supportATsofttreetech.com? We think the issue with the menu is related to some data encoding or something else similar causing incorrect reading of the data, which we're unable to reproduce it so far.

Sat Nov 12, 2016 8:35 am

gemisigo

Joined: 11 Mar 2010Posts: 1438

Sure. I compared the before (default) vs after (bottom two items swapped) and Beyond Compare show that the before had MenuData in Options empty (I guess because it was the default) and after had a whole bunch of things there. If it is already there could you check if it has anything to do with context menu not shown in SQL Editor as well, please?

Sending the file right away.

Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:35 am

SysOpSite Admin

Joined: 26 Nov 2006Posts: 6608

Thank you. It might be related indeed.

Sat Nov 12, 2016 1:12 pm

Mindflux

Joined: 25 May 2013Posts: 641Country: United States

gemisigo wrote:

Sure. I compared the before (default) vs after (bottom two items swapped) and Beyond Compare show that the before had MenuData in Options empty (I guess because it was the default) and after had a whole bunch of things there. If it is already there could you check if it has anything to do with context menu not shown in SQL Editor as well, please?

Sending the file right away.

I wonder if this is a locale thing? My context menu shows but I've also never tried to customize it and see if it breaks. Does your path have any special characters or anything ?